The Bears stayed well ahead of No. 2 Gonzaga in Monday's poll, part of an unchanged top seven for the first time this season. In fact, the only change in the top 10 came with Villanova moving up a spot to No. 8 to swap positions with No. 9 Duke. That comes in a season that has seen seven different teams reach No. 1 this season, matching a record set during the 1982-83 season.
Baylor (17-1) hopped over Gonzaga last week to reach No. 1 for the second time in program history, then earned 44 of 64 first-place votes to keep a firm hold on the top spot after beating Oklahoma and Florida last week.
The Zags earned 19 first-place votes to remain either No. 1 or No. 2 in the poll since the middle of December, followed by Kansas, San Diego State — the last unbeaten team in Division I — and Florida State.
Louisville, Dayton, Villanova, Duke and Seton Hall rounded out the top 10.
No. 22 LSU, No. 23 Wichita State and No. 24 Penn State were the week's new additions, re-entering the poll after appearances earlier this season. Texas Tech, Memphis and Arizona fell out of the rankings.
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 26, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week's ranking:
| Record | Pts | Prv | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Baylor (44) | 17-1 | 1578 | 1 |
| 2. Gonzaga (19) | 21-1 | 1552 | 2 |
| 3. Kansas (1) | 16-3 | 1434 | 3 |
| 4. San Diego St. | 21-0 | 1408 | 4 |
| 5. Florida St. | 17-2 | 1318 | 5 |
| 6. Louisville | 17-3 | 1277 | 6 |
| 7. Dayton | 18-2 | 1163 | 7 |
| 8. Villanova | 16-3 | 1110 | 9 |
| 9. Duke | 16-3 | 1084 | 8 |
| 10. Seton Hall | 15-4 | 1055 | 10 |
| 11. Oregon | 17-4 | 926 | 12 |
| 12. West Virginia | 16-3 | 874 | 14 |
| 13. Kentucky | 15-4 | 839 | 15 |
| 14. Michigan St. | 15-5 | 751 | 11 |
| 15. Maryland | 16-4 | 650 | 17 |
| 16. Butler | 16-4 | 631 | 13 |
| 17. Auburn | 17-2 | 619 | 16 |
| 18. Iowa | 14-5 | 545 | 19 |
| 19. Illinois | 15-5 | 483 | 21 |
| 20. Colorado | 16-4 | 314 | 23 |
| 21. Houston | 16-4 | 296 | 25 |
| 22. LSU | 15-4 | 260 | — |
| 23. Wichita St. | 17-3 | 161 | — |
| 24. Penn St. | 14-5 | 114 | — |
| 25. Rutgers | 15-5 | 102 | 24 |
Others receiving votes: Creighton 59, Arizona 55, Texas Tech 33, Ohio St. 16, Indiana 15, ETSU 14, N Iowa 13, Memphis 11, Southern Cal 9, Purdue 6, Rhode Island 6, Florida 4, Arkansas 3, Saint Mary's (Cal) 3, SMU 3, Tulsa 3, Akron 1, Harvard 1, Wisconsin 1.
